In the introduction to The Letters of Gertrude Bell (1927) Lady Florence Bell enumerates the many achievements of her late stepdaughter: "Scholar, poet, historian, archeologist, art critic, mountaineer, explorer, gardener, naturalist, distinguished servant of the State, Gertrude was all of these, and was recognized by experts as an expert in them all." In fact, so accomplished was Gertrude Bell that another of her admirers, Vita Sackville-West, remarks on Bell's achievements in an introduction to an edition of Persian Pictures (1928), "Alpine guides remembered her as a skilled and fearless mountaineer; she could walk most men off their legs; she cared for gardening, fishing, archaeology, exploration, politics, poetry, friendship, and clothes. It is almost a relief to hear that she never could learn to cook or play the piano." Still others praise her political involvement with the newly emerging nations of the Middle East from 1914 until her death; some credit her...